On March 19 & 20, Orso will be showing for the first time in the 9-12 month puppy class with his handler, Jessie Herzon of Chambray Labradors. Since Orso is turning 9 months of age on March 17 (this Thursday), he moves up to the next age group. According to the schedule, there are 10 Cane Corsi going to this show, which is a wonderful turnout for our breed!
The shows will be held both days at the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, 4201 SW 65th Way, Davie, FL 33329. It’s an outdoor covered arena, which will be new for Orso. Below are links to information about both shows: Fort Lauderdale Dog Club, Inc. – Saturday, March 19, 2011 Fort Lauderdale Dog Club, Inc. – Sunday, March 20, 2011
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Orso is all about getting rewarded! He is an equal-opportunity reward receiver, whether it is food, praise or some good old-fashioned playtime! As soon as we got home from today’s show, we strapped Orso into his life vest and ran outside for a game of water fetching! He LOVES to swim, absolutely loves it! We didn’t go to my parents’ house, where the slope is nicer, and instead played in our own backyard. Orso didn’t care where the fun took place, as long as we were armed with something for him to fetch! See below some favorite shots from this afternoon!
Today was a short day for us, which was fine by us because we were tired and wanted to go home and enjoy the gorgeous weather with our dogs. It was Orso’s last time showing in the 6-9 month class, which he took first prize, and then went in for the winners class against Argento and took Reserve Winners. We grabbed our ribbons, crate & show supplies and headed home for a well-deserved beach day! Yay, Orso! Thanks, Jessie!
What a productive weekend this was! Below are a few pictures from this morning, including all of his ribbons from this weekend. My favorite one is the purple and gold Best of Breed ribbon from yesterday! For today’s results, go to http://www.infodog.com/RESULTS/2011120202/201112020233500.HTM. Today was a very exciting and rewarding day for us! We had a successful, albeit very long, show day. This weekend’s shows are Orso’s last shows in the 6-9 month puppy class since he turns 9 months on the 17th. Orso cleaned house and took (1) First Prize in his age class, (2) Winners in the winners class, (3) Best of Winners, (4) Best of Breed Puppy AND most importantly, (5) Best of Breed to bring home a 3-point major! WOW!
What does this all mean for Orso? A few things! Get comfy because this is going to be a lengthy post! A little background… In order to earn the title of Champion with the AKC, Orso needs to accumulate 15 points. Of these 15 points, he needs to earn at least 2 “majors” of 3 points of more. Majors are incredibly difficult to earn – especially for an 8 month old puppy on his 3rd show weekend! Why are they difficult to earn, you ask? Let me explain… There are a lot of factors that go into winning a major. For starters, there need to be enough dogs and/or bitches of Orso’s same breed showing in order to qualify the win as a major. In Orso’s case, there were enough Corsi in the ring to qualify his Best of Breed win as a major. What makes Orso’s win so particularly special is his age and the accomplished Champions he was up against. He is only 8 months old and was in the ring with 3 “specials” who he beat. Specials are dogs or bitches who are already AKC Champions and are working toward earning their Grand Champion title with the AKC. My boy beat 3 champions – 2 champion dogs, including his dad, and 1 champion bitch. Very special win for Orso indeed! After he took Best of Breed and Best of Breed Puppy, Orso moved on to the next level of competition, which is Best of Group and Best of Puppy Group, another exciting part of our day. Only the Best of Breed winners advance to compete in the Group competitions. Each AKC-recognized breed falls into one of seven group classifications. The seven groups are Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting and Herding. The Cane Corso breed falls into the Working Group. The day was a long one because the group classes don’t go until close to the end of the day and we had finished with our breed class early in the morning. No big deal… Orso got a chance to play some tug with us in a big grassy area outside and relax in his giant crate throughout the day while we waited for him to show again. Meanwhile, in Miami, Nichelle – our dog sitter extraordinaire – passed by the house to check on Mouse & Luna, who were patiently hanging out in the family room waiting for our return! Thanks, Nichelle! Special thanks also goes to Pawsch – our dog food supplier – who hooked us up at the dog show with some cool new stuff for Orso to help make the wait more enjoyable! Thanks, Pawsch! Once the afternoon rolled around, it was Orso’s turn to go back in the ring. He was supposed to go in for Best of Puppy Working Group AND Best of Working Group, but a scheduling conflict forced us to have to choose between the two; this was not something we were happy about but it is what it is. Recognizing that an opportunity to show in the Best of Working Group class is far more prestigious and has a potential for points, we chose to go in to the Best of Working Group competition. We were so proud of our boy! He did so awesome in there! He actually made the first cut from which the judge selected the winners and that truly is a huge deal! To not get eliminated in the first round of working group selections is amazing! Way to go, Orso! Some other cool stuff to mention. Orso got “interviewed” by The Town Crier, which is a local newspaper in Palm Beach County. They even took his photo for the newspaper. As soon as we get the digital edition, we will post it to the blog. Another cool thing that happened was that an aspiring photographer named Lee photographed us with Orso at the end of the day for a project he is doing for his photography degree. He is sending us the photos, so we will post those too! Throughout the day, I got tons of questions about the Cane Corso breed, which we loved because it gave us a chance to educate people about this wonderful breed. More importantly, it gave Orso a chance to get lots of love and attention from many, many new people, which is something that is so crucial to the development of a socialized and well-adjusted dog. We are blessed that Orso gets to meet new people on a regular basis, helping us to shape his personality into the friendly and approachable Corso he has become! To see today’s show results, click here or go to http://www.infodog.com/RESULTS/2011120201/201112020133500.HTM. Below are some of our favorite shots of the day. We were having some technical difficulties with one of our cameras, so the shots aren’t as crisp and properly exposed as we’d like, but that’s OK! Enjoy! Can anyone guess what everyone’s favorite room in the house is? 3 hints – it always smells good in there, it’s the center of our home’s hustle and bustle, and last, but definitely not least, food magically falls from the sky at any given moment. See below…
In this house, we don’t need to subscribe to the newspaper to get our Sunday morning laughs because we have in-house entertainment. Below is a cute video clip – just a minute long – of what goes on constantly in this house. I also included a couple of cute pictures from after playtime. I didn’t make it to the camera in time to catch a picture of Luna sleeping with her head on Orso’s withers. Too cute! Enjoy! I have always had fairly tall dogs, so using an elevated feeder has and always will be the norm around here. I have strongly believed in them ever since my parents brought home our first two working dogs, a Rottweiler named Bruce and a German Shepherd named Ian, when I was 10 years old. I would hate to eat and drink hunched over and uncomfortable, so why would I do it to my furkids? And that’s just the reason to use them for their comfort’s sake. The health benefits of using an elevated feeder are substantial. My challenge with Orso is that he has outgrown every elevated feeder we have in the house! We used to have a very tall one that we had purchased after we rescued a full-grown Great Dane, Lucas, in 2002, but that feeder is long gone. After doing some research, we found a cool one that we can adjust the height as Orso grows! It finally was delivered and we are thrilled with it. Despite its height, it seems to be pretty stable, but if Orso gets a little too excited at mealtime, we are gonna have a dog food mess on our hands, LOL! For more information on Orso’s new feeder, click here or go to http://rightheightfeeder.com/Right-Height-Feeder-Adjustable-Height-Feeding-System-RHF.htm. To learn more about the benefits of feeding large dogs with an elevated feeder, click here or go to http://www.ehow.com/about_6576569_elevated-dog-dishes-bloat.html. Below are a couple of before and after shots of Orso’s feeding set-up. BEFORE: AFTER:
Orso has been added to the online Cane Corso Pedigree Database. The Cane Corso Pedigree Database is and always will be a free service that runs on donations. It’s a very interesting site that allows owners to submit images of their Cane Corso so that photos show up on the pedigrees. Results from health tests can also be uploaded, among other relevant data. Way cool!
To see Orso’s main page, click here or go to http://www.canecorsopedigree.com/modules/animal/dog.php?id=18902. To see Orso’s pedigree online, click here or go to http://www.canecorsopedigree.com/modules/animal/pedigree.php?pedid=18902. To make a donation supporting the Cane Corso Pedigree Database, click here or go to http://www.canecorsoforum.info/pedigreedonations.htm. …Canine Histiocytoma.
Great news! Just as Dr. Pane suspected, the cytopathology report came back and the little growth Orso has on his neck is just a canine histiocytoma, which is a very common benign tumor that should clear up on its own within a couple of months. I had noticed the growth on Tuesday while I was bathing Orso and I immediately took him to see his vet that same afternoon. Thanks, Dr. Pane, for delivering some good news! For more information on canine histiocytomas, click here or go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histiocytoma_(dog). For more information on cytopathology, click here or go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytopathology. Below is a picture of the histiocytoma on Orso’s neck, courtesy of South Kendall Animal Clinic. We are making this event announcement way ahead of time in case any of Orso’s local “groupies” want to head out to the shows. We will warn you – showtime goes quick! So, if you choose to make the drive to West Palm Beach, these shows run pretty punctual – totally unlike the horse world – and if you blink, you might miss Orso! Plan to only spend about an hour there for Orso, so maybe you can stay around and watch some of the other breeds show or find something cool to do in the area instead of jumping right back in the car! It’s a great family experience and kids do love dogs…
On March 12th & 13th, Orso will be showing in the 6-9 month puppy class for the last 2 times with his handler, Jessie Herzon of Chambray Labradors. He turns 9 months on the 17th of March, so he will be moving into a different age class. The shows will be held both days at the South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33411. Below are links to information about both shows: Palm Beach County Dog Fanciers Association – Saturday, March 12, 2011 Palm Beach County Dog Fanciers Association – Saturday, March 13, 2011 There is a beauty in watching the evolution of a young dog’s mind and body. It’s obvious to anyone who sees Orso in a show ring that he is just a baby and is still far from what he will become, yet it appears that judges he has shown under are experienced enough to recognize a diamond in the rough. This is a refreshing realization for me, as there will exist the occasional exhibitor who would opt to “hide” a young dog from the show ring for fear of others’ opinions – and will go so far as to demand that we do the same with Orso and then openly and harshly chastise us for choosing not to “hide” him. To them we say that we are sorry if our differences in opinion offend you, but what makes our world interesting is that we all have differing perspectives and as human beings we have a responsibility to respect the views of others without callous and destructive criticism.
I suppose the cliché that says “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” inevitably makes its home in a dog show ring quite often and we are no exception. We believe wholeheartedly that every stage of Orso’s growth is beautiful and we embrace his evolution with pleasure and love. Orso is our pride and joy and we will never hide him from the world! Do parents hide their children when they go through that awkward, and at times unattractive, stage of puberty? I should hope not. Please don’t expect, or worse yet, demand, the same of us. I took Orso to the vet this evening to get a little cyst on his neck checked out and he weighed in at 119 pounds! WOW! Looks like the cyst is probably normal and nothing to worry about. Dr. Pane sent out a smear of it to pathology just in case…
Now that we have settled back in at home, Orso is back to his puppy antics and is relentlessly chasing Luna & Mouse around like a madman. Poor Luna & Mouse! Every time we leave town with Orso, it must be like a spa vacation for them! For us, on the other hand, it’s been a chaotic (and expensive!!!!) couple of weeks with the out-of-town shows we attended, but we had a great time and met lots of cool people and their dogs.
Not to mention that Orso earned 4 points in 7 days, which is an encouraging introduction to the conformation show ring for newbies like us. We didn’t expect even 1 point, so we are thrilled! Orso is deservedly taking the next couple of weeks off to relax and torment Luna & Mouse before he shows again. This time, he is showing in West Palm Beach, which is close enough to drive to – YAY, no hotels!!! – yet far enough from Miami that we are hoping there will be a nice Cane Corso turnout. In the meantime, there’ll be lots of beach days, couch days & hanging out with us days in Orso’s agenda. Stay tuned for the next event announcement with details about the upcoming West Palm Beach dog shows! I got the greatest email yesterday via the contact form of my fitness studio website. It came from the “dad” of one of Orso’s littermates whose name is Enzo. Apparently, Tim (Enzo’s dad) was searching for video footage of the 2011 Westminster Kennel Club Best of Breed Showing for the Cane Corso breed and stumbled upon Orso’s blog. Turns out that he realized that Orso was his pup’s littermate and reached out to us to say hello! Thanks, Tim!
Orso’s brother, Enzo, was the biggest puppy in their litter and outweighed Orso at 8 weeks of age by nearly 2 pounds – which is a big deal when you are talking about an 8 week old puppy! If you go back to all the puppy photos that were posted to the blog, Enzo is the puppy with the black ribbon collar and Orso was the one with the dark blue ribbon collar. We always think about Orso’s littermates and how they are turning out – I am sure they are all gorgeous – but we are always curious nonetheless, so we were thrilled to hear from Tim. Tim says that Enzo was 110 pounds 3 weeks ago – WOW!!! He and Orso are probably about the same size right now because Orso weighed in at 106.2 pounds about 3 weeks ago. Enzo lives in Indiana with Tim and his wife and a very cute puggle puppy named “Kali”. We went back and forth via email a few times and Tim sent us over a bunch of photos of Enzo, which he is allowing us to share with Orso’s blog followers, see below: 4 down, 11 to go! That was what I said to myself as I walked away from the show ring this morning! Again today, Orso was alone in the 6-9 months class, so he took first in that class then won the winner’s class, earning him another point toward his AKC Championship! Orso and Jessie did a great job this morning and are really building a wonderful relationship with each other! Awesome day, awesome puppy, awesome handler! Below are some photos from this morning’s show! Enjoy! Orso is the 3rd dog gaiting in this photo: Meanwhile, at home in Miami, Nichelle captured Luna daydreaming:
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